AI won’t decimate the arts. We must interrogate it, but we can collaborate with it | Classical music

AI won’t decimate the arts. We must interrogate it, but we can collaborate with it | Classical music

AI won’t decimate the arts. We must interrogate it, but we can collaborate with it | Classical music

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/jun/02/ai-the-arts-opera-technology-rbo-shift-festival-netia-jones

Publish Date: 2026-06-02 07:14:00

Source Domain: www.theguardian.com

  • Disquiet and distrust surrounding AI, driven by corporations, have evoked apocalyptic language from arts commentators.
  • The RBO/SHIFT festival aims to explore both the threats and possibilities of AI in the arts, focusing on collaboration, new artistic forms, and the impact on society.
  • Opera serves as a unique lens to examine technology, having historically engaged with and preserved technological advances and traditional crafts.
  • Questions regarding AI’s potential to replace human roles in the arts are significant, particularly concerning ownership and consent, but the full impact remains complex.
  • AI’s practical applications, such as efficiency improvements in workforce planning and operational data analysis within opera, may have greater long-term impact than creative outputs.
  • The ethics surrounding AI’s appropriation and misuse of artistic creations emphasize the need for legislation, controls, and protections while recognizing creativity’s dependence on cultural access.
  • AI integration in technology raises broader ethical, environmental, and social implications that institutions must address.
  • The interaction with machines may elevate the value and protection of the arts rather than decimate them, offering a potential symbiotic relationship.